Electric-railway system



Patented Nov. l, I898.

L. E. WAL KINS. ELECTRIC RAILWAY SYSTEM.

(Application fiI ed May 20, 1898.)

2 Sheets-Sheet I;

No Model.)

N0. 6|3,6l2. Patented Nov. l, I898. L. E. WALKINS.

ELECTRIC RAILWAY SYSTEM.

(Application filed May 20 1898.)

(N0 Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

UNITED STATES LOUIS E. WALKINS, OF SPRINGFIELD,

MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR OF ONE HALF TO GEORGE M. JEWETT, OF GLENVILLE, MARYLAND;

ELECTRIC-RAILWAY SYSTEM.

s'PEeiFreA'rIoN forming part of Letters Patent No. 613,612, dated November 1, 18st. Application filed May 20, 1898. Serial No. 681,213. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, LOUIS E. WALKINS, a citizen of the United States of America, and a resident of Springfield, in the county of Hampden and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Electric-Railway Systems, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to electric-railway systems of the third-rail class, having sectional contact conductor-rails additional to the usual car-track rails.

The invention particularly relates to an organization of the parts and conductors whereby an alternating current may be advantageously converted and utilized in an eflicient, economical, and safe manner; and the invention furthermore relates to special arrangements and equipments to this end applicable in some extent to railways operated by direct current.

The invention consists in thecombinations and arrangements of parts and the construction of certain of the parts or devices, all substantially as will hereinafterfully appear, and be set forth in the claims.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, in which Figure l is a plan View of the electric-railway system. Fig. 2 is a cross-sectional View of the railway and an end elevation of a double-trolley motor-car to run thereon. Fig. 8 is a cross-sectional View, on a larger scale, showing one of the usual car-track rails and also the outlying rail conductor and the receiver-guard and insulating appliances therefor. Fig. 4 is a cross-sectional view similar to Fig. 3, showing the corresponding parts modified in form, but not in any essential particular, and showing in addition the sidewise-arranged second trolle; for the motorcar and supporting means therefor.

Similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all of the views.

In the drawings, A A represent the continuous car-track rails, as usual.

B represents the intermediate conductor or third rail between the tracks, and D represents a second conductor-rail located near and outside of one of the side-track rails.

Both the conductor-rails B and D are divided by insulation (represented at a a) into blocks or sections 1) b, which may be of any desired lengthas, for instance, one-fifth of a mile, more or less-the dividing insulation for the two sectional conductors being opposite, so that corresponding sections of conductor-rails B and D are of equal length and have their beginnings and terminations in common transverse lines.

E represents the feedwire, and F the return-wire, running along and throughout the length of the railway, having by the wires 6 and f outgoing and returning connections with)the dynamo or generator, (indicated at d.

Provided for each block or section b b of the rail conductors B D is a transformer g, connected with the feed and return wires E F.

The rail conductor D may be understood as a sectional feed-conductor, and the one B as a sectional return-conductor, and each transformer has a wiring-in connection, as indicated at h,with the respectively adjacent side feed-00nd uctor rail, while the other wiring-in connection from the transformer leads and is bonded to the corresponding section 19 between the tracks.

The motor-car O has two depending shoes or trolleys G H, one sidewise arranged outside of the car-wheel journal to bear on the rail conductor D, while the other bears, in the usual manner of a depending shoe, on the intermediate or third rail conductor 13.

J, Fig. 2, represents the motor on the car, a feed-wire k running thereto from the trolley G, while a second wire m runs from the motor to the central depending trolley-shoe.

In this system it is advantageous to employ an alternating-current generator, and it will be understood that the current-circuit will. be established through that section or block of the railway on which the car is running and by which its two trolleys G and H and the connections between them and the motor complete the circuit.

The sectional conductor-rail D is shown as supported on the same cross-ties, outside of the one side-track rail A, as serve the support for said rails and also for the intermediate rail conductor B. The said sectional rail conductor, which may be of cast-iron or other suitable and inexpensive metal, has provided therefor a longitudinally-runnin g metallic receiver M, which is continuous and may be of trough shape, as seen in Fig. 3, or it may be of L shape, as seen in Fig. 4, being lined with a layer of creosoted wood n, on which the rail conductor D directly rests and which serves as an insulator,separating the said conductor from the metallic receiver M. The upstanding wall of the receiver at the side thereof toward the car-track rail is extended, as seen at u, higher than the top of the conductor-rail D and serves as a guard, so that a metallic bar or other object will not be likely to accidentally form a connection between conductors B and D, whereby the current would pass through any section except such one as is being traversed by the car.

The rail conductor D has the base and side portions thereof embedded within a filling 0 of concrete or insulating material which advantageously may be composed of a mixture of sawdust, comminuted rock, and a suitable binder or adhesive, the Whole being solidified by pressure while in a plastic condition. The said filling material is downwardly and outwardly inclined to constitute a shed for rendering the rail-conductor equipment self-freeing, whereby water, snow, ice, dirt, or other substances will not lodge thereon to interfere with the clear bearing-surface for the siderunning shoe.

The side-runnin g trolley is shown more fully in detail in Fig. 4, wherein a trolley-support q is supported on the truck-frame outside of the car-wheel, the same having as-a part thereof the outwardly and downwardly extended bracket (1 terminating in the circular resistance member g arranged in a plane obliquely inclined, and the said support q is provided with the depending ear-lug g having pivoted thereto the swing-arm 1 on the lower end of which, at q, is jointed the bearing member or shoe proper, s, of the trolley or contact device G, the bearing-face of the same being against an upper portion of the rail conductor. The shoe 3 has connected thereto a shoulder-block 8 provided with a stem 8 which plays loosely through a hole g therefor in the part g and the spring 25, surrounding the stem 5 is in compression between the immovable part (1 and the part 5 subject to such yielding movements as the shoe has by reason of its link or swing-arm support or suspension from the trolley-supporting de- 1 vice q.

The wire 7a,which connects the shoe 8 to the motor, it is of course understood is properly insulated from the car-truck.

I claim- 1. In an electric-railway system, the car track rails, intermediate conductor-rail sections 1), corresponding conductor-rail sections 1) near and outside of one of the track-rails, and a continuous guard, interposed between the conductor-rail sections 1) and the adjacent track-rail which is extended above the top of said sections 1), feed and return wires having wiring-in connections respectively with the intermediate and outlying conduc tor-rail sections, substantially as described.

2. In an electric railway,the usual car-track rails, the intermediate rail conductor 13, and a rail conductor D, mounted along outside of one of the track-rails, a continuous longitudinally-extending receiver therefor having a portion thereof extended above the top of the rail D and serving as a guard between the conductor-rails B and D, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

Signed by me, at Springfield, Massachusetts, this 22d day of March, 1898.

LOUIS E. VVALKINS.

W'itnesses:

W. S. BELLoWs, M. A. CAMPBELL. 

